“Artificial Intelligence has had some big technical breakthroughs in the last decade, including deep learning gaining popularity because of the availability of big data, compute power, and algorithms. It has now moved from science fiction to real world applications. Solutions we had imagined previously are now within reach. Intel's AI technologies are being used for numerous applications including faster drug discovery to fight diseases like cancer, optimising crop yields, smart cars and drones, finding missing children, use in forensic science, etc. India is well known as a tech hub, and I see it taking full advantage of advancements in AI as it relates to health, farming, transportation logistics, fraud detection, autonomous driving, etc,” said Ms Huma Abidi, Senior Director of AI Software products and Engineering, INTEL, California, USA while addressing participants during a webinar organized by Pushpa Gujral Science City (PGSC) at the occasion of International Day for Women and Girls in Science.
Ms. Abidi pointed
out while
women have come a long way, substantial gaps remain when it comes to gender
parity. What has been encouraging in the last few years, however, is the coming
together of the governments, academia and industry to accelerate inclusive
participation of women at the workplace. Technology companies are more aware
than ever, that a diverse workforce and inclusive culture are not just critical
to their evolution but are the driving forces of their growth.
Ms Abidi further said, “In order to attract women, we need to do a better job
explaining to girls and young women, especially from small towns, as to how AI
is relevant in the world, and how they can be part of creating exciting and
impactful solutions. We need to show them that AI spans so many different areas
of life, and they can use AI technology in their domain of interest, whether
it’s art or robotics or data journalism or television. Some of the existing
exciting applications of AI which has already started impacting our daily lives
are virtual assistants like Alexa, self-driving cars, customer targeted ads on
social media or how Netflix knows which movies a client wishes to
watch. Fortunately we now have many great role models such
as Fei Fei Li who is leading human centered AI at
Stanford and Meredith Whittaker, who works on social implications through
the AI Now institute at NYU, plus many more women leaders emerging in AI”.
Dr Neelima Jerath, Director General, Science City said, “Statistics show that women remain widely underrepresented in STEM fields. Although science subjects like medicine and biology are well represented by women, fields such as engineering, mathematics and computer science are generally perceived as male bastions. Even while discussing these subjects, the vast majority of references girls hear are masculine, although women have increasingly contributed immensely to this field, especially in technology and management.
Dr
Jerath felt that women role models can show young girls that it is cool to be
an engineer or a scientist. One important aspect which needs to be
acknowledged is that this is inspite of women being saddled with the biological
responsibility of bearing a child or taking primary care of the family.
Ms Khushi Sharma, a young researcher and blogger also shared her research
journey and how her school and home environment had motivated her to look into
new vistas in science. She felt that science centres like, Pushpa Gujral
Science City are great motivating factors which can influence girls to enjoy
science. Khushi said, “Soon after my exams towards the end of March last year,
India went under lock-down. How could a virus be so fierce, bringing the whole
humanity to its knees? How could I contribute? My curiosity and interest led me
to study the science behind COVID 19. Since then I have spent hours each day
trying to understand the various aspects of this dreadful contagion and what
should be done”. Khushi shared her live mathematical model simulating the
differential equations that govern the flow of people between four compartments
of the S E I R model of Epidemiology. This live model works for any city,
region, or country and forecasts the extent of the spread and preparations
required.
Dr Grover, Director, Science City said, “The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic
has clearly demonstrated the critical role of women researchers in different
stages of the fight against COVID-19, from advancing the knowledge on the
virus, to developing techniques for testing, and finally to creating the
vaccine against the virus”.
International Day for women and girls in science is
organized annually on February 11 to celebrate and acknowledge the
important role that girls and women play in science and technology, and to
support gender equality in these fields. Dr. Loveleen Brar,
Scientist, Science City said, “Today women have excelled in all fields. It is
heartening that presently Science and Technology Department in Govt. of
Punjab was primarily led by women with three out of 5 HoDs being women and that
one out of three major science cities was woman led. She also mentioned that
presently even the state government was led by a women Chief Secretary